The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Aspects of the invention relate to an open roof construction for a vehicle, comprising a stationary roof part, a roof opening provided therein, a panel movably mounted in said stationary roof part for opening and closing said roof opening, wherein said roof opening has a forward edge and wherein near to said forward edge a movable wind deflector is provided, which wind deflector comprises an upper elongate member extending substantially in parallel to said forward edge which is movable between a retracted position below the level of the stationary roof part and an extended position at least partially above said level of the stationary roof part and a flexible wind deflecting material having an upper end attached to said elongate member and a lower end attached to the stationary roof part.
The elongate member will be moved from its extended position to its retracted position when the movable panel moves in a direction for closing said roof opening. It is possible that the movable panel directly engages a part of the wind deflector for controlling the movement thereof but in other embodiments separate drives for the movable panel and for the wind deflector may be provided which, however, should be synchronised. When the elongate member moves from its extended position to its retracted position the flexible wind deflecting material generally has to be folded or otherwise compacted in a storage space provided near the forward edge of the roof opening below the level of the stationary roof part. As a result of the local aerodynamic conditions and the flexible nature of the wind deflecting material there is a risk that the wind deflecting material is not entirely correctly received in said storage space and that part of the wind deflecting material is pinched between the movable panel and the forward edge of the roof opening. This at one hand may result in damaging the wind deflecting material and at the other hand may cause leakage between the closed movable panel and the surrounding edge of the roof opening. These problems may increase in situations in which the dimensions of the wind deflector (in view of improving its noise attenuating performance) are increased and the wind deflecting material consequently has a larger area.